It’s been bad for a few years, of course. We’ve been fighting cannibalistic zombies that have destroyed civilization on “The Walking Dead” and aliens that have destroyed civilization in “Falling Skies.” The nanobots that destroyed civilization by eating electricity on “Revolution” have been dispatched, but that was by the programmers at NBC, not any success on the part of the beleaguered populace.

It got worse earlier this year. “The Helix” on Syfy found a civilization-destroying virus, and according to “The 100” on the CW, we’re just a few years away from destroying civilization in a nuclear war.

But this summer, it’s going to get even worse. A lot worse:

• A virus that makes the Spanish flu seem pleasant will kill millions on “The Last Ship,” an adaptation of William Brinkley’s 1988 novel that debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday on TNT. The 10-episode thriller stars Rhona Mitra as the microbiologist who might save the world – or what’s left of it – and Eric Dane as the commander of a Navy ship charged with keeping the doctor safe.

• A different virus – this one that turns people into vampires – threatens the world in “The Strain,” a series set to kick off its 13-episode first season July 17 on FX. Corey Stoll of “House of Cards” stars as a specialist from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention charged with stopping the spread of the virus. The head producer is “Lost” veteran Carlton Cuse.

• Cuse’s “Lost” partner Damon Lindelof gets his own apocalypse to deal with as the showrunner for “The Leftovers,” a drama that begins June 29 on HBO. The issue here is more mysterious and atmospheric. Some 140 million people vanish at the same moment, an event that serves as a prologue for the main drama, which takes place three years later. The people who stayed behind – the leftovers – must deal with the disappearances and the impending sense of doom they created.

• The trauma suffered by the residents of Chester’s Mill, Penn., when a mysterious force field cut the town off from the rest of the world, will be revisited starting June 30, when Season 2 of “Under the Dome” begins. No one yet knows what the event might hold for the people under the dome, or outside of it.

What’s behind this sudden interest in destroying the world?

It’s easy to chalk it up to chasing “The Walking Dead.” After all, the zombie thriller is the most successful drama in the history of cable television, and trying to replicate someone else’s success is an essential part of the television business.

That’s a factor, of course, but the full answer is more complex.

Science fiction, at least the better, more ambitious elements of it, always has reflected the fears and hopes of contemporary society.

In the 1960s, with the space race in full throttle and Americans coming to terms with civil rights, the Vietnam War and rapid changes in conventional mores, “Star Trek” went out to explore “strange new worlds” and encounter alien metaphors for societal issues.

The 1970s, full of post-Watergate cynicism and stagflation, found sci-fi heroes who made the most of circumstances beyond their control: Steve Rogers of “The Six Million Dollar Man” and Dr. David Banner of “The Hulk.”

Today is no different. After 9/11, with a corroding middle-class and a lengthy recession, we can be excused for feeling a few short steps from an apocalypse. Such sociopolitical overtones aren’t an accident to the creators of these shows.

Tom Perrotta, author of “The Leftovers,” the novel on which the series is based, was deeply influenced by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

“I started to just think about telling a story that explored that idea of ... a huge collective trauma and the various ways that a community deals with it,” Perotta told a gathering of television critics.

And sometimes the fears that underpin the stories aren’t metaphorical but real. The concept behind “The Strain” is that an ancient virus, locked in permafrost in the Arctic, is unleashed when global warming thaws the ground. Steven Kane, one of the executive producers, said he discussed the idea with virologists around the world. “And I would present it like sort of a science-fiction story, and they’d say, ‘That’s actually our worst nightmare.’”

The growth of apocalyptic series also reflects the ongoing shift of more complex storytelling from movies to television. Science fiction in particular has been dominated in theaters by effects-driven action pieces. More character- and idea-driven stories are migrating to television, where the story doesn’t need to be resolved in 100 minutes.

For long-form drama to work, though, the stakes must be high enough to hold the viewers’ interest week after week. What’s more compelling than the end of the world?

“The Last Ship” on TNT. Apocalypse: Deadly virus wipes out most of the human population. RICHARD FOREMAN, SMPSP
A mysterious infection turns the dead into flesh-eating zombies in “The Walking Dead.” FRANK OCKENFELS, 3/AMC
In “Under the Dome,” an invisible force field encloses a Pennsylvania town, creating a panic on either side of the dome. , CBS
In the futuristic “The 100,” a nuclear war wipes out most of the planet. CATE CAMERON, THE CW
In HBO's upcoming series “The Leftovers,” 140 million people suddenly vanish. , HBO
“The Strain” on FX. Apocalypse: A mysterious virus turns people into vampires. MICHAEL GIBSON , FX

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